Press Fire To Begin

Happy new year everyone! December 21, 2012 came and went and the world is still here. I have to admit, that after the Y2K scare I was not as worried about this one after already going through the hype of a previous non-event already. As a matter of fact, I remember feeling some comfort that if Y2K did bring about computer chaos, that I would still have my trusty old TI-99/4A computer which is oblivious to the date/time, so as long as there was electricity, I could play video games, write up reports on TI-Writer, etc. I remember reports on the news of people buying homes in the mountains to get away from society once 2000 hit, as there would be widespread panic in the streets. I seem to recall a computer programmer buying up a house in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest and stocking it with food and the like. I also seem to recall that 9/9/99 was supposed to bring about some type of problems as well.

It's interesting to think about now as all three of those dates have come and gone without a hitch. Although I was looking forward to using my TI-99/4A after 2000 while everyone else went computer-less (well, those who were not into classic computers at least).

Interesting topics have been discussed on our forums, one of which was what defines a "classic" system. What I found interesting is that in the early days of Retrogaming Times (late 90s), there was a lot of animosity towards the NES. People in the classic gaming circles did not view the NES as a classic system. I can still remember the debates in rec,games.video.classic about this very topic, about what systems should be discussed in the newsgroup. Nowadays the NES is most certainly in that circle as it becomes older and people who grew up playing the NES in childhood start to become the majority. That's the interesting thing about having a magazine run as long as RTM has, as you can see the progression of classic systems start to expand. Interestingly enough, rec.games.video.classic started in 1992/1993 and was centered around systems from the late 70s/early 80s (namely the Atari 2600). It's interesting to think that even after only 10 years out from when the 2600 was king, it was considered a classic. The NES on the other hand had a tough time being accepted as a classic system even 15 years after it came out. Maybe it was the type of games that put it in a different status than the 2600? Maybe it was the simplicity of the early home video game era that by the time the NES came to market was pretty much gone? Maybe it was the fact that most games on the NES had a goal of trying to "beat" the game instead of going for the highest score? I'll end this intro with a question, what makes a system feel classic to you and where do you draw the line between classic and not classic? Is there a certain cut-off date? On that note, let's get to this month’s issue!